The Bihar election of 2025 is historic on many counts. It saw a huge voter turnout. There was a 67% voter turnout, but the big picture was women outnumbering male voters. The male population in Bihar is nearly 44 lakhs more than the female population. The men’s turnout was 62.8% on the other hand, it was 71.6% for the women. In absolute terms, it is 4.34 lakh. This is what a healthy democracy will cherish. The next big accomplishment was that there was no repoll demand from a single booth. The mandate is another milestone.

It is the NDA that “WON” the elections, and MGB managed to “LOSE”. It is not just a few flowers that contributed to the NDA’s victory, but a bouquet. The result is a culmination of organisational supremacy, good governance, Development, a women-centric approach and a map of the future. In this article, I shall try to elaborate on every aspect of the Bihar result.

Bihar NDA: Epitome of pre-poll alliance.

Bihar NDA comprise the BJP, JD(U), LJP(RV), HAM and RLM. These five parties tick all the boxes, which is what is expected in an alliance. The alliance is not just made by leaders, but is made sure that every worker feels in alliance and works in tandem. Indian politics has seen many formidable alliances, but on paper. The recent SP and BSP in the Lok Sabha election in 2019. NDA has planned the election to contest together as a unit. For the Last year, leaders of all the parties held meetings at the block and district level together. The meeting used to be held combined, and plans were laid down for the whole machinery. It is ensured that the alliance of leaders is converted into an alliance of party workers. There was smooth seat sharing, and even if there were some problems, it was handled in closed doors. There is no open discussion or any talk which shows dissatisfaction. Each stands for the alliance; if there is any bubble in the market, it was countered by all and in the same tone at that very time only. This is what an alliance works and looks like.

Breaking caste barrier

It used to be believed that elections were fought solely on caste. Caste is the dominant factor in the Bihar election, and people vote only based on caste. It was a misconception. Elections across India, and for that matter, in any country, were consolidated based on caste and pressure groups. The mandate that NDA had in this election is not possible without this myth-breaking. NDA got votes across the spectrum. Another happening was the counter-consolidation against the traditional vote bank. The new target is horizontal consolidation of votes, be it women or youth. All this seemed to be working in favour of NDA.

Governance and Visible Changes.

The performance of Bihar on the development parameter is very bad when compared with other states. But it is better when a comparison is made with the time dimension. The state of Bihar is moving, and people of the state can feel that movement, yet the speed is very slow. People feel getting an electricity connection in their village, a road connecting small towns and taking them to Patna in a very short travel time. Policing has improved a lot, and the sense of decreasing organised crime gave them a new normal, which was not imagined in the Lalu era. The market remains open till late at night, women can be seen roaming freely on roads, and there is no migration of children for studies due to fear of kidnapping and random ransom demands. It made people’s lives safe and satisfactory across the castes.

Liquor ban in the state was a debated topic. But it was successful irrespective of the fact that it is available in the state. It made women voters very confident in the ruling government. After the implementation of the ban, there has been a significant reduction in the cases of domestic violence. Harassment of women on roads has come down. They are left with more disposable income. It is not limited to just women. The family which do not consume liquor or the parents of a growing child remain less worried about the habit of liquor among their child. Hard access and increased cost will definitely reduce the demand and consumption.

Schemes of social welfare have increased their base and reached the actual beneficiary. This targeted delivery added a sense of security among the voters and worked as a cement between them and the government. These schemes have increased their efficiency over time. Continuity plays a very big role here.

Nitish: A factor

Nitish Kumar is the fulcrum of the Bihar election. There must be something that gave him the title of “Sushan Babu”. Nitish, as a political figure, is clean. There is not even a single allegation of corruption against him. He kept him away from most of the regional parties by not promoting dynastic politics. I personally have not seen his wife in public life, and even his son has a very negligible presence.

Second, Nitish has a very strong vote base. His target was EBCs, and the Mahadalit mostly remain intact with him. His vote base is very broad on this factor only. He has a different aura among the women voters. It is due to the trust of women in him. Women across the caste and party line supports him. Above all these, He always tries to add something in terms of the upper castes, Non-Yadav OBCs and Minorities.

For me, Nitish Kumar won the election when there was heavy rain in Bihar during the election phase. He travelled 300 km, did road shows, attended election rallies and even stayed there at night. On the side, the Helicopter halted, and the Rallies halted. He put a big full stop on the question of his health and boosted his supporters for this huge turnout.

BJP: The organisation

The way in which the BJP fights elections is a point of study. They have evolved in their strategy and now target each seat for a 50% vote share. It is not just vocal, but they have proved it in Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi and now in Bihar. Micromanagement is actually seen in their efforts. BJP has a very great advantage of disciplined workers and dedicated party leaders from across the country. These workers start working on the ground much before the elections. Others kick in when the Model Code of Conduct is announced.

The BJP divide each seat into many fragments. They start it from the booth level to the state level. Booth level- village level- block level-division level-district level. Leaders were given responsibility at each stage. Accountability is fixed. These leaders are stalwart leaders who handle a specific seat and a specific area. Their big leaders were seen among the people doing the work of the party. They camp in a particular area for at least a month. There is a proper chain of command and guidelines from the top that flow like water to workers. The feedback mechanism is very strong, and they work on that feedback.

Election Campaigning

The election campaign is the phase in which the tone of the election is defined. It is the last imprint among the voters. NDA has appealing leaders, BJP in particular have a very strong base of leaders who mobilise votes. Their big leaders like Yogi Aditya Nath, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and CMs of other states hold on average 3 election rallies daily. They carried out road shows in larger numbers. Leaders, MPs and MLAs from other states were seen on the ground doing a campaign for the party and alliance.

One thing which strikes me is NDA campaigning in the same way. Inter and intra-party rivalry is not visible. Leaders of their respective parties are doing rallies for the candidate of the other symbol in the alliance. It is mostly not seen in alliance. Parties focus mostly on their seats, and this prevents the actual transfer of votes.

Counter-polarisation was the target, and they achieved it very well. The next striking thing was voices on the same page. Any narrative which was floated was crushed at that place. Communication was very clear, with complete transparency in words and actions.

The Buzz of Money Transfer

Everything is settled over the 10000 rupees that were transferred for the Jeevika didis. It can be a but not the reason for this mandate. Bihar is not the first state doing this. We have seen it in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and the champion AAP in Delhi and Punjab. Every state does so either as a political compulsion or as a welfare purpose. Opposition also promises the same, be it sarkari naukari or 30000 transfer. People have started equating it with the selling of votes by women. If this is the case, most of the people in the country get doles from the government. Be it farmers in the form of PMKISAN and subsidised inputs and MSP, consumers as subsidised Food grains, Commuters as subsidised fares and Youths as free or subsidised education and elders in the form of old age pension.

I have a very clear reservation about these unilateral transfers in bank accounts, but it is the political reality of the country.

The X factor: Opposition

It is the Opposition which makes sure that they remain on a losing streak. The onset of the election for the opposition was with a failed issue, SIR. It has no impact on the ground. People have their names in the roll, and they were not able to connect with that agenda. The house of opposition was not in order from day one, whether it was the agenda of the election or the face of the election. They were not able to establish a vision among the voters. Synergy was completely missing. Seat sharing and the spillover of it were bizarre. One face of opposition was in his house for a week because he wanted to be declared as the CM face, and the other was on the foreign grounds for vacations.

The election campaign was boring, and the party in alliance made sure that the candidate of the other symbol lost. Tejaswi Yadav was not able to add anything, be it thought or votes. The biggest hurdle for him was the baggage of Lalu’s jungle raj. BJP cemented the events of jungle raj by speaking about it again and again. The simple equation of caste and religion was on paper only, away from the ground realities of counter-polarisation and leakages.

The Bihar election of 2025 has a lot to study for a student of political science. The most interesting was an innovation called a friendly fight. How to convert anti-incumbency into pro-incumbency. Development models, Delivery of services, meeting the growing aspirations of people and most importantly, ground-level presence to ground-level alliances. Voters are not going to change the government only due to long tenure. Voter excitement has taken the place of voter fatigue.

Divyanshu Vishen

(Views expressed are personal)